The new Metreon Farmers Market isn’t my thing. There are good vendors as well as meh-treon quality, but the layout of this culinary corridor makes me want to sway my feng outside.

If I were a vendor, I would appreciate the shelter, climate control and modern plumbing of this indoor venue, but as a shopper, the space isn’t welcoming, the flow of customers is far from organic and sustainable and although there is natural light on either end of the building, it’s difficult not to miss the outdoor element.

Crafts seem an etsy bit out of place since they aren’t farmed (unless Monsanto came up with a new, patented, crop that I haven’t heard of) and although I’m always happy to see food stands (particularly ones made from produce that it available on site), the bakery and food booths dominated the hall and made it feel more like a food court than a Farmer’s Market.

...and speaking of markets. Trader Joe’s is scheduled to (finally) open in the former Greenbrae Tower Records space at the end of June.

Sarah Ballard & co. Perba-trated the production of brachetto panna cotta with raspberries:

... and watermelon marshmallows:

Elizabeth Falkner’s:

... “rough, salty, sexy and sweet chocolate bondage”:

... had the crowd tongue tied with its steamed chocolate fudge cake, lychee gelee, leather essence, dehydrated olives, cocoa nibs and a Touch of Evil raspberry. Masticators filled their cavities but were disappointed when they found the napkins too small for use as blindfolds.

All of the sugar slingers brought a sensational selection of stupendous sweets in support of Project Open Hand’s programs which nourish the community through services including the delivery of food to homebound, critically ill and senior clients.

Ed Levine of Seriouseats.com is curating the comestibles for the Great American Food & Music Fest. He has lined up seminars, cooking demos and tasting tent tenants which will include such notable noshables as June Taylor’s “America’s best PB&J” ($6.00) with her strawberry conserve and Koeze peanut butter on artisan bread, Barney Greengrass’ bagel plate ($10.00), Pink’s hot dogs ($6.00), Katz’ pastrami on rye ($12.00), Bouchon Bakery’s chocolate bouchon ($2.00) and Charles Chocolates made to order s’mores ($5.00).

There will be Little Feat performing music and little feet in Chris Cosentino’s hot dog making demonstration. I guess chefs are the new rock stars...

Taylor and Ryan are pulling out the knives and breaking down and barbecuing a Heritage pig from Good Farm. Check out our post on their last pen-ultimate event and get your tickets early (last month they had a three digit waiting list.)

The poultrywich was Cibo’s daily special and even though it was spread with mayo, it verged on dry. Pitted olives, arugula, bits of roasted peppers and zucchini offered a boost, but we both preferred the hammy sammy with smoked mozzarella, prosciutto, pesto and tomato slices.

The Blue Bottle Giant Steps drip coffee was made in a big cup:

... that they filled up, but next time we’ll ask for a shorter version (since it was much more dilute than we prefer.)

Coulda swore you wrote up the taco trucks by the marin dump aka the recycling center. Can't find them under San Rafael reviews -- where are they hidden???

Sara

Gutenberg replies:

Dear Sara,

Ah, the Marin dump...the reason it didn’t hop out at you is that it’s filed under Taqueria Santa Cruz.

-G

Mark your Calendar

Each ticket purchase for the One Big Table Event benefit for the SF Food Bank provides more than 450 meals for San Francisco’s low income seniors and families (in addition to the ticket holder’s dinner at Hotel Kabuki.) The festivities include a silent auction with items such as a dinner for 12 cooked by Tyler Florence at the winner’s home.

The bank’s $50,000 fundraising goal will help ensure that San Franciscans are fed this summer.

The Lark Creek Inn is out and the Tavern at Lark Creek is in. The cushioned chairs and carpeting are gone and the dining room now has a more casual approach to both the decor and the chow.

Dense and delectable Parker house rolls:

... came fresh out of the oven and set a comfort food tone for our dinner.

We started with the Bellwether Farms ricotta ($3.95):

... drizzled with lemon infused olive oil and topped with marjoram. This simple starter was delicious with the accompanying crisp croutons, but the ratio of cheese to toasts was such that the curds didn’t give whey as fast as the bready bits.

The burger ($7.95):

... was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a brioche style bun which was good, but had a doughy influence over the sandwich due to its richness and lack of crustiness. It came topped with cheese (which we didn’t order but was fine by us) and picked beans, cauliflower and carrots for a pleasing crunchy, vinegary interlude.

We opened our faces for the open-faced, grilled asparagus tartine ($14.50):

... which was topped with an alchemizing hen’s egg laid over a nest of stalkable stalks. A morelly superior cream sauce kept the bread boat afloat in this vessel of vegetable virtuousness.

All of the entrees are priced below $15 and cocktails top out at $11. There are some vestigial vittles Inncluding the popular Caesar salad and butterscotch pudding, but Chef Randy Lewis has put together a more welcoming, everyday roster of local, high quality eats.

On Monday, June 15th the Tavern will donate a percentage of that evening’s receipts to the Corte Madera Larkspur Schools Foundation. So if you prefer cocktails and burgers to walkathons - this fundraiser is for you.

Shelley Lindgren, Jon Bonne and Rajat Parr are a few of the judges on the wine panel for this year’s Golden Glass event. The tie-tannic task of these ranking oenophiles will be to proclaim their preferred potables from a caskade of Italian, Spanish, New Zealand and US bottles with a focus on terrior-expressive and sustainably produced juice.

As you can see from our posting of last year’s event the carefully selected artisans are not restricted to wine producers, this year the Slow Food Plaza participants include The Slow Club, A16, Delfina, La Cocina Community Kitchen and Blue Bottle Coffee. Each admission ticket includes 5 food tasting tickets.

Urban Tavern’s “Pay What You Think It’s Worth” lunch promotion next week includes 5 hours of free parking while you calculate the caliber of your caloric consumption.

Reservations are required for this sobering study (alcohol is not included) in which diners eat up to three courses with soft drinks, coffee or tea before being asked what they should be charged (not inclusive of tax and tip.)

The Murray Circle dining room was full, but they serve the lunch menu in the Farley Bar:

... where I shelled out for the crab “BLT” ($16.00):

... which had a generous portion of Dungeness sandwiched between slices of heirloom tomato and avocado. If they were more miserly with the alchemizer of applewood smoked bacon, the sweet, delicate, crab meat could have sidestepped further into the spotlight, but complaints about too much bacon are like chiding a unicorn for having too silky of a mane.

Although the lunch tasting menulooks good on paper, the à la cavallo carte is how I like to roll.

Michael Mina’s recipe for Strawberry Shortcake with Grand Marnier Strawberry Compote and Chantilly Cream was a great way to make a fruity sandwich. We used demerara sugar to sprinkle over the top of the biscuits:

...(since we like the chunky crunch of the coarser crystals) and halved the booze (based on the Epicurious commenters reviews) for a simple, seasonal sweet.

-G

Mark your Calendar

Jeremy Fox, Christopher Kostow and Philip Tessier are a few of the top toques who will be featured at the upcoming StarChefs Rising Stars Revue Napa Sonoma.

Guests will sample the chef’s signature dishes with pairings selected by sommeliers Yoon Ha and Geoff Kruth as they stroll around Charles Krug Winery and for those who want to shake it up, Scott Beattie will be on hand with his artisanal cocktails.

All the porky pieces are falling into place for the heritage hog cooking competition on June 14th along with a sueeet price cut. The tickets are now $125 each ($95 with the “baconbits” discount code) and there is also a VIP reception (at $200 per ticket) which begins at 3:30 with reserve wines, artisan cheeses, specialty libations and Magnolia beer.

At 5:00, general admission includes a sampling of all 5 chef’s hoofy handiwork as well as a butchery demonstration by Taylor Boetticher in which he will show the crowd how he rolls his famous porchetta.